SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The #2 Concordia-St. Paul volleyball team (20-2, 13-1 NSIC) opened the weekend with a sweep of Sioux Falls (13-6, 8-6 NSIC) on Friday night to make it five wins in a row in NSIC action. The Golden Bears cruised to a 25-20 set win in the first before squeezing past for 25-23 and 26-24 set wins in the final two sets.
 
CSP kept pace at the top of the NSIC standings as they moved to 9-3 all-time against the Cougars, including 8-0 since USF joined the conference. The win also brings the season total to 20, marking the 16^th consecutive season that Concordia has reached the 20-win plateau.
 
The match proved to be much closer than the final result indicated as none of the three sets featured a margin larger than five points, including two by the minimum margin of two points. The competitiveness of the match showed up in the stats as CSP held a slight edge of .308 to .223 in hitting percentage as well as a 50-38 edge in digs while the Cougars outpaced Concordia in total blocks (10.0-8.0) and service aces (7-4). Perhaps the biggest gap came in the kills department as the Golden Bears turned their 117 swings into 53 kills while USF finished with 36 kills on 103 attempts.
 
Brooklyn Lewis continued to be a force in conference play as she paced all players with 19 kills and a .424 hitting percentage on the night. The junior outside hitter improved her average to 4.20 kills per set in league play while reaching 15+ kills for the 12^th time on the season.
 
Hope Schiller also registered in with 15 kills in the win as she also chipped in 11 digs for her seventh double-double on the season and second in as many matches. Mariya Sampson gave the team three hitters in double figures, finishing with 10 kills and a .391 hitting percentage while also adding four blocks.
 
Elizabeth Mohr once again put up big assist numbers for CSP with 43 of the team's 48 assists on the night as she surpassed 40 assists for the 21^st time in 22 matches this season. She also shipped in seven digs and a pair of aces as well. Tori Hanson led the way in digs with a match-best 14 while Erin Fallert added seven more in the win.
 
Makenna Rockeman was fed early and often for the Cougars as she took 40 swings to compile a team-best 14 kills while Janelle Lam was the lone USF player to reach double figures in digs with 10.
 
CSP jumped ahead early in the first set with four of the first six and six of the first nine to take the lead for good. The Cougars closed the gap to one four different times midway through the set, including as late as 14-13, before a 7-1 run pushed the Concordia advantage out to 21-14. It took five set points for the Golden Bears to come out on top as a 24-16 edge turned into a 25-20 set win in the opener.
 
A quick 5-0 run in the opening points of the second set gave the Cougars a 7-3 advantage, but the Golden Bears soon battled their way back. Concordia evened up the score at 11-11 following three straight points of their own before eventually taking the lead at 15-14. Their lead hit four at 21-17 before USF stormed back with four in a row to tie it up at 21-21. From, the two teams traded points until the 23-23 mark when CSP took two straight to win the set 25-23.
 
The Golden Bears scored the first three points and led for much of the early portion of the third set until a 4-0 run for Sioux Falls tied it up at 10-10. The score remained tied at 14-14 before another 3-0 burst put CSP back out front at 17-14. The lead grew to four at 20-16 and again at 21-17, but the Cougars scored six of the next seven points to take a lead of their own at 23-22. USF would score just one more points as the Golden Bears went on to claim the sweep by winning the set 26-24.
 
Concordia is set for a massive contest tomorrow afternoon as the second-ranked Golden Bears travel to Marshall to face off against top-ranked Southwest Minnesota State at 2 p.m.